Great Expectations

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Great Expectations
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Great Expectations is available in print, on audio, online (link provided in image above), and in the iTunes store. I'm sure it is available in more places and forms, but these are the most popular.


Useful Information
  • Great Expectations was first published in 1861 in three volumes.

  • It is placed in the "Fiction/Social Criticism" genre.

  • Great Expectations was published after A Tale of Two Cities.

  • It is a bildungsroman--a novel that focuses on the maturing, development, or education of a young protagonist.

  • SPOILER ALERT! This paragraph reveals the ending of the novel! Charles Dickens actually changed the ending of Great Expectations just before it was published. Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a friend of Dickens, is the one who suggested that Dickens change the ending. If you read Great Expectations, it ends on a rather happy note with Pip and Estella reuniting at the Satis House eleven years later. Pip learns that Estella was never happy with Drummle and that Drummle has passed away. The novel ends with Pip and Estella walking through the mist hand in hand. This is the ending that was suggested by Bulwer-Lytton and is considered the official ending. However, the Great Expectations that Dickens had originally written possessed a very different ending. The original ending is much more realistic and follows the entirety of the novel a little better. Pip has heard that Estella has married a doctor after the death of Drummle. While walking in London, England, with Joe and Biddy's son (also named Pip), Pip is called to step back to a carriage by a servant who states that the occupant of the carriage wishes to speak to him. As Pip returns to the carriage, he notices that the "stranger" is Estella. Estella tells Pip that she is greatly changed (however, she does not state how so) and asks to see little Pip more closely; Pip states that he thinks Estella believes little Pip to be his child, but he never clarifies the truth about the child to Estella. Then the scene changes to Pip commenting on the interaction; Pip says he was very glad to have run into Estella and he was assured that Estella had suffered and she now knew how he had once felt.



Major themes in Great Expectations:
  • Affection, love, and gratitude vs. ambition, wealth, and social standing--The moral lesson in Great Expectations is very strong. As Pip lives a humble life with his sister and Joe, he is exposed to Miss Havisham and Estella, who live very luxurious lifestyles. Throughout the novel, Pip becomes so obsessed with becoming socially equal to Miss Havisham and Estella, he abandons the people who love and care for him the most. As Pip becomes wealthy and a member of the social elites, his satisfaction and achievement of his ambitious expectations are overpowered by feelings of guilt, loneliness, and lack of purpose. As Pip learns that the high life does not live up to his expectations of glamour and happiness, he begins to change back to the humble joyful person he once was.


  • Social Classes--Seeing a country experience an industrial revolution, and the social change that accompanies it, Charles Dickens included a very satirical view of the Victorian era social classes of England in Great Expectations. All social classes are explored throughout Great Expectations: the rich, the middle class, the poor, and the criminals. Dickens reveals throughout Great Expectations that one's wealth or social standing does not represent one as a person.

For example:
    • Estella is a social elite, but she does not possess the greatest personality.
    • Miss Havisham is a social elite and extremely wealthy, but she lives a life of misery
    • Pumblechook is a middle class man, but he is extremely irritating, self-centered, and unscrupulous.
    • Joe and Biddy are considered to be lower class, but they are extremely kind people with wonderful personalities.
    • Magwitch is a convict, but he has very good intentions and is an overall good person, despite his past mistakes.
    • Pip starts as a joyful peasant with a wonderful personality and becomes a lonely social elite who is filled with guilt and misery.

Dickens also pokes fun at the upper class in a very subtle way. Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens shows just how ridiculous and cruel the upper class can be. How tedious their worries are. How miserable most of them are. How ungrateful and uncaring they are. And much more. As Dickens' audience consisted mostly of those who lived in England, Great Expectations was probably an eye opener for the social reforms that needed to occur.


  • Crime, Guilt, and Innocence--This is a rather literal theme. Throughout Great Expectations crime is extremely prevalent: the two convicts that Pip meets at the beginning of the novel, Joe mending the handcuffs, Jaggers and Wemmick, Pip's sister's murder, Dolge Orlick capturing Pip, and much more. Similarly guilt is also showcased throughout the novel: Pip's guilt at abandoning Joe and his old lifestyle, Miss Havisham for ruining Estella, Estella for her treatment toward Pip, Pip's guilt at his treatment and avoidance of Magwitch after he discovers he is his secret benefactor, and much more. Finally, innocence is also a theme throughout the novel: Pip's innocence to his sister and the social classes, Joe's innocence toward Pip's behavior, Magwitch's (somewhat) innocence in regards to his crimes, and much more.


  • Determination--Pip wrestles with his desire for Estella and the realism of Estella's view of him and her training, in regards to relationships, from Miss Havisham. However, although Pip struggles between his desire and the facts of the situation, he never truly gives up on Estella. Pip is finally rewarded at the end of the novel for his determination and persistence, by obtaining a relationship with Estella (this is based from the "official" ending).



What I personally liked about Great Expectations
  • Dickens' style. Three words: it is brilliant.
  • Dickens' use of allusions. They made me think and analyze the text a little more than usual, which I really enjoyed.
  • Dickens' satirical portrayal of the social class system. It's fascinating to me how one can read a book and almost feel what the author felt about a particular topic. Dickens did this wonderfully in Great Expectations; without superfluously or blatantly bashing the current system, he simply subtly exposed it. After reading the novel, I had a sense of how he felt about the Victorian era.
  • The dialogue and use of colloquialism. I learned a lot about British language just from reading Great Expectations and the dialogue was very realistic.
  • The plot. It was complex, mysterious, suspenseful, interesting, and very enjoyable.
  • The contrast of unrealistic character traits and occasional events with realistic dialogue, settings, and situations.
  • The characters. Some aspects of the characters were a bit extreme (this fits in with Dickens' style of placing heroic characters in bad situations); however, Dickens described them so well and was so consistent that I felt as if I knew them personally.
  • The themes. They are very eye opening and realistic.
  • Great Expectations truly became one of my favorite books after I read it.



What I personally did not like about Great Expectations
  • The ending. I enjoyed the "original ending" much much better than the ending that was in the text I actually read. I do not think the "official" ending is very consistent with the rest of the novel. I think Dickens' "original ending" would have made the book much better.
    • This brings up an interesting point: should authors cater to their audience or write how they want?
      • "Questions" from Great ExpectationsBarnes & Noble Classics with introduction and Notes by Radhika Jones:
        • "Were Dickens's original readers right to demand a happy ending? What does their demand tell us about a reader's own great expectations? Is it a writer's job to satisfy those expectations or desires? One theory is that a novel is a verbal equivalent of a fantasy; another is that a novel's purpose is to reveal things as they are. Does either (or both) of these theories fit Great Expectations? Did reading this novel affect, even in a small way, your apprehension of reality?"
      • What are my answers to these questions?
        • "Were Dickens's original readers right to demand a happy ending?" Yes, everyone has the right to desire whatever they want to.
        • "What does their demand tell us about a reader's own great expectations?" Readers have strong expectations for books. For most people, books are an escape from reality, rather than a description of it; thus, readers want things to happen in the book as they would want them to happen to themselves, or how things "should" happen if the world were perfect.
        • "Is it a writer's job to satisfy those expectations or desires?" I suppose it depends on the circumstances; however, I think not.
        • "One theory is that a novel is a verbal equivalent of a fantasy; another is that a novel's purpose is to reveal things as they are. Does either (or both) of these theories fit Great Expectations"? Great Expectations conforms to both of these theories. The satire and realistic descriptions incorporated into the novel reveals things as they were, but particular events (especially the ending) and certain character traits are verbal fantasies.
        • "Did reading this novel affect, even in a small way, your apprehension of reality?" Yes--very much so in fact. Reading Great Expectations made me somewhat fear the future. What if things I currently believe to be great, are actually not great? And vice-versa. What if my perception of certain things is actually very skewed from everyone else's? What if the future ends up not being what I want it to be? What if the goals I have for my future are not the best things for me?